


221B Menagerie

by language_escapes



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Gen, Pets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-18 02:17:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1411291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/language_escapes/pseuds/language_escapes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Brownstone acquires- momentarily- a new pet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	221B Menagerie

**Author's Note:**

> A response to the prompt "Joan, Sherlock, Cat". Originally posted at my tumblr.
> 
> Yes, I know they don't actually live at 221B, but I like the rhyme too much.

“No,” she says, hands shoulder level.

“But Watson,” he protests instantly, thrusting the kitten at her. He recognizes the momentary flicker in her eyes as the first sign of capitulation. He has come to understand which minute gestures speak of a future agreement, and which signal that he should back down immediately or risk a true argument. While they bicker regularly, Sherlock prefers to avoid true arguments with Watson. 

“No,” she says again, tearing her eyes away from the kitten that Teddy brought them. Sherlock’s favourite Irregular found the thing in the dumpster by his apartment and brought him straight to the Brownstone. Sherlock generally disdains cats- Mycroft used to say it was because he was so like them, but what does Mycroft know- but he found himself to the small gray kitten abandoned in a dumpster. He has always had a fondness for strays.

“Watson-”

“Sherlock, we already have hives of bees, and a tortoise, and two roosters that were supposed to go to the petting zoo weeks ago, and yet you always find a reason that you can’t take them. Ms. Hudson is about to gouge your eyes out because of how difficult you’ve made her job.”

He scoffs immediately. “Ms. Hudson loves kittens. She-”

“- had a cat when she was a child named Tiger, it was the only one who understood her when she was young, yes, I _know_ the story, Sherlock, that does not mean we are keeping a kitten.”

Sherlock blinks at her, biting his bottom lip and tucking the kitten close to him. It mewls pathetically and rubs its head against his chest. “But it doesn’t have a _home_ ,” he says, realizing that he’s pleading for a kitten, of all things. He doesn’t even like cats.

Watson sighs and puts her hands on her hips, an improvement from when they were waving in the air, except in the way that it means resolution Perhaps he was wrong about her capitulating. Watson always manages to surprise him. “I know. I’m not saying we throw it back where Teddy found it. I’m just saying that it wouldn’t be fair to the kitten to keep it.”

He pouts- and he knows he’s pouting, and he knows he’s a grown man, but he likes this kitten. “Why?” he says.

Watson rolls her eyes. “Because you set things on fire at least once a week? Because your idea of a good time is to practice disarming bombs? Because both of us are out on cases regularly?”

All of those are good points, actually. He sighs and strokes the top of the kitten’s head with his left forefinger, the fur still like down, fluffy and light. “Then what do you propose we do with it?” he asks.

Watson visibly softens and reaches out, taking the kitten from his hands. He wants to snag it back, keep it warm against him, but she appears to know cats, and folds it against her, hands cupped around the poor creature’s entire body. It’s so small. “How about we give it to Ms. Hudson? You know she’s been lonely in her new apartment.”

It’s a brilliant idea, actually. “Excellent, Watson!” he crows, and spins to find his phone so he can inform Ms. Hudson of the new development in her life.

And if it lives with Ms. Hudson, then perhaps he can still visit it.


End file.
